A SERMON INTENDED FOR PAVL'S CROSS, BUT PREACHED IN THE CHURCH OF St. PAVL'S, LONDON, THE III. OF DECEMBER, M.DC.XXV.  
Upon the late Decrease and withdrawing of GOD'S heavy Visitation of the Plague of Pestilence from the said City.  
By THO: FULLER, Master of Arts in Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge.  
LONDON, Printed by B. ALSOP a●d T. FAWCEY, for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his Shop at St. Austin's Gate. 1626.   

TO THE RIGHT Honble: ALLANE COTTON, Lord Major of the Hon: City of London, and to the Right Wor: Sir JOHN GORE, his worthy Predecessor: THO: FULLER wisheth length of prosperous days here, and fruition of Eternal prosperity with the Ancient of days hereafter.  
Right HON: and Right Wor ps●ll:  
THis Sermon not long since preached in your public Assembly, is beside, though not against my will published: The severe censure of the ear amazed me, but that more exquisite Test of the eye, doth little less th●n confound me: Even Manna in this kind is distasted of our corrupt natures; And but that I know there are stomaches, that will desire Fruit when they refuse wholesomer diet, I must not have adventured so ill a cooked dish to so various palates; Some, I hope, will look upon this piece without any thought of the worthless Author; and if in it they find aught either for Information of judgement, which I dare not hope, or Reformation of life, which is the All of my ambition, the Whole neither to them, nor me may prove unfruitful.  
The subject of it being our late heavy Affliction, with its ill cause our Transgressions, and it's good effect our Sorrow, together with GOD'S gracious deliverance and our hearty Thanksgiving for it, this City, the Stage of those scenes may justly challenge it as her own; And to whom then within these Walls doth it of right belong, but to your Lordship the present, and that other worthy Gent: the last principal Magistrate therein? whose sad eyes were witnesses of what this is only a rude and unpolisht draught; He had the happiness to outlive those many Deaths, to finish his course not more in safety then Honour: You have the Honour to enjoy the year of Thankfulness, to rule in a clear and fair sky, wherein it will be your Crown to destroy the Cockatrice in the egg, severely at first to punish these Transgressions and Iniquities, which like Garden-weedes will spring up in a sunshine after a storm, and, if not prevented, will o'errun the whole Plot, and bring again the like desolation; 
Heb. 13. 8.  God is the same yesterday, to day and for ever, the same to see, to hate, to punish Malefactors; Hitherto only the hands or toes of Adonibezick have been cut off, 
judg. 1. 6.  his life spared; Worse things than what we yet have suffered, may befall us: You are at the Stern, and may be a great means to prevent Shipwreck: Good luck have you with your Honour, ride on prosperously, and let the Word of Truth guide, and it will defend you.  
Be pleased to pardon his boldness that means and wishes well, and humbly offers not only This but himself in all due respect:  
At your Service, THO: FULLER.   

Faults escaped.  
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PSAL. 107. VERSE 17. etc.  17. Fools because of their transgressions, and because of their Iniquities are (nou: Trans:) afflicted. (vet:) Plagued. 18. Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they draw near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he saveth them out of their distresses. 20. He sent his Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 21. Oh that Men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. 
WHat Euripides spoke in Hecub● concerning a noble and vulgar person delivering the same speech, Eadem oratio non aequè valet: The same do I hold true of an ancient and a younger Divine should they preach, for matter and form totidem verbis, the same Sermon; it would find a far different acceptation. 
* Lue. 5. last.  No man when he hath tasted old Wine will desire new, for he saith the old is better.  
I freely acknowledge this chair of Moses should rather be furnished with Masters in our Israel, men of such gravity and learning, whose awful presence alone might stop the mouth of all, either censorious Criticism, or envious detraction: But so heavy hath the hand of Heaven been upon us, as not only the sheep, but the shepherds themselves have been scattered; Those greater and more glorious Luminaries are retired to their more private orbs, there praying and interceding with 
a Gen. 18.  Abraham in the fields for threatened Sodom; wisely careful, according to the advice of Solomon 
b Prou. 27. 12  not to expose their bodies to these arrows of God, which as if they had chosen this City for their proper aim, have thus long, thus mortally wounded us; so that this Night of our desolation hath been enlightened only with less and weaker constellations. And those reverend and worthy ones that have stayed, have found their own Pastoral charges a double labour unto them. So that young Samuel, or none must supply the place of old Eli, and in the absence of the Prophets, their children of servants must discharge this duty. It will be your charity to expect from Children no more than what such weaklins, and Novices can produce; to pardon weak if there be no wilful aberrations; St. Paul 
a 1 Cor. 13. 11.  himself when he was a child, spoke as a child, 
b Psal. 8. 2.  and out of the mouths of babes and sucklins is God often pleased to make his praises issue forth: What then the Heathen were wont to proclaim in the beginning of their sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so we desire none but equal ears and mild censurers at our Sermons. 
c 2 Kings 7.  Good news is good news though from a Leper, and truth though uttered out of weak and unworthy lips ought to lose nothing of its worth and acceptation.  
The Prophet in this Psalm describes four several sorts of men that stand indebted to God for deliverance from earthly and temporal dangers, and afflictions. 
vers●●.  The first whereof are they that have suffered banishment, as the beloved Disciple 
d Reuel. 1. 9  john in Pathm●s, are exiled from their native soil, and may say with them in the Poet, 
e Virg▪ Ecclog. ●▪  Nos Patriae fines & dulcia linquim●s ar●●, Their native Country with all the pleasures thereof they forsake, and are driven to live among strangers, to seek their bread in an unknown Land, to converse with such people, whose language is riddles unto them, yet there they cry unto the Lord, 
f Zach. 4. 10.  whose ears as his eyes go through the world, and he heareth them and brings them home in safety.  
The second are they that have with 
g Act▪ 12▪  Peter been locked up in Prisons, and with 
h ler. 37▪  jeremy thrown into the Dungeon, and fettered, not only in chains of Iron, but which is worse, in fetters of darkness, not having so much happiness as to see themselves miserable, yet thence from those disconsolate places, they crying unto the Lord, he also heareth them and delivereth them, breaks those bonds in sunder, and set● their 〈◊〉▪ in a larger r●●me.  
The third being the Text which at this time I have chosen to be the subject of my weak discourse, 
Verse 17.  are they that have been brought so low, with the harbinger of death; sickness, that their souls abhorred all meat, and all pleasure is as the gall of Asps unto them, unwelcome and unsavoury, yet they also with 
i ● Reg. 20.  Hezekiah, crying unto the Lord, their strength is renewed, and there are days and years added to their lives.  
The fourth are they that go down to the sea in Ships, and occupy their business in great waters, Seafaring men, that are neither Inter vi●●s ●ec inter mor●uos, between the living nor the dead, and are ready to offer up their souls to every flaw of wind, and billow of water which assails them, yet these at last are joyfully delivered, and safely brought to that haven where they would be. The A●●aebeum or burden of each one is this, Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.  
It was the saying of Solomon 
k Pro. 25. ●1.  A word spoken in due time is like apples of gold with silver pictures, whose outside is fair, but the inside glorious; if ever text was seasonable, this is now at this time, being a lively description to our ears, of what our eyes have been woeful witnesses and spectators, here is a real narration, and a true demonstration of our own lamentable estate, whether we consider our misery we have been plagued and afflicted, or the cause of those sorrows our Transgressions and iniquity, or the effect of those disasters, our fasting and crying unto the Lord, or the happy event of our humiliation and contrition. He heard us in our distresses, he sent his Word and healed us, he hath spoken and we have escaped from the noisome Pestilence. Or lastly the good end and conclusion which we all should make our thankfulness, Oh that men would, etc.  

l Cyprian.  Plus profic●tur, cum in rem presentem venitur, when we see and feel the truth of what we hear, the words cannot but move and prove effectual. 
m Horace.  Illi ●●bur & oes triplex c●ra pectus, his sinews are of I●on, and his soul of Marble, who, when he hears the sad relation of those miseries wherein himself and his brethren have been miserable sharers, shall not have his heart pricked, as the 
n Act. 2. 37.  jews had at Peter's Sermon, t●lling them their sin past, and their judgement to come, so again, that heart is as 〈◊〉 as Brawn, and himself not worthy the air he breathes in, that is not taken with this great deliverance of our gracious God, that hath not his soul ravished with joy, and endeavours not to express the fruits of his gratitude in his life and conversation, in real acts of charity and obedience: For if ever Death triumphed, 'twas this year in the streets of our forsaken City, and if ever Mercy again victoriously overcame, it was now in this sudden and unexpected declination from the deaths of so many thousands in one week, to so few hundreds within a few weeks after, it was only the 
* Psal. 118. 23  Lords doing, and it ought to be marvellous in our eyes. Wherefore as Tully spoke of a book which Cran●or wrote, it was Paruus, sed aureolus, & ad verbum ediscendus, with better reason may I say of this Text of Scripture, it deserves to be engraven upon the palms of our hands, or rather on the tables of our hearts, never to be forgotten, to be worn as a bracelet upon our arms, or rather as a ●ron●let between our eyes, still to be thought upon and still to magnify God for it.  
But because 
a 〈◊〉  Pleni sumus r●marum as he in the Comedy, and the thought both of sorrow and deliverance equally slips out of our memories with the sense of them, give me leave to thrust my finger into an al-most-healed soar, to draw fresh blood from our late wounds; to discourse a while of our afflictions, that so our extremity duly and often considered, our own escape, and miraculous preservation may be more welcome to us, and we more thankful for it. And so I come to my Text.  
Fools because of their Transgressions, etc.  

b Psa. 101.  The subject of David's song Mercy and judgement, as of all holy Writ in general, so it is the chief matter of this Text in particular, here is judgement in the punishing, and Mercy in delivering again from that judgement, or rather here is Mercy, than judgement than mercy again; for what was it that suffered these fools so long to run on in the ways of their foolishness, till they added Transgressions to their F●lly, and Iniquity to their Transgressions, till they heaped one sin upon another, that their regions were forborn not only till they were Albae ad messem, but Siccae ad ignem, white for harvest, but dry for the fire, till the measure of their wickedness was not only full, but heaped up, pressed down, and running over, but those Viscera misericordiae as they are termed, the bowels of his compassion, his long suffering patience, who wills not the destruction of any; He could in the infancy of their sin ●aue thrown them not only to the gates of Death, but even the belly of Hell, but yet He stayed, and stayed, till there was no end of their rebellions, so that laes● patientia fit furor, patience too long, too much abused becomes fury: yet a little while and his bow will be bend, and his arrows drawn to the head, and He is as it were compelled to strike. And yet see and wonder at Mercy in the midst of judgement, they are not swallowed up quite of this devourer, they are but at the gates of death, 
* Psal. 1 18. 1●.  He hath chastened them sore, but he hath not given them over unto death. He plagues none ad destructionem sed ad correctionem, to amend, not to destroy us; loath to begin, and yet in the proceeding procuring our good and advantage. O quam vellem nescire literas, 
q Sue●. in vita Nero●is.  said Nero in the beginning of his reign, when he was to subscribe for the execution of a Malefactor; ten thousand times more loath is our governor, the Father of all comfort, and God ●f all mercy to strike, much more to kill. 
r Ez●k. 18. 32.  He wills not the death of a sinner, but rather their conversion and salvation.  
And because prosperity doth rather breed corruption then amendment, as 
f Deu●. 3●. 15  Ges●urun waxing ●at will kick, and we see that standing waters will soon grow noisome. Adversity must then succeed, as when 
t 2 Sam. 11. 29.  Absolom could not draw joab unto him by fair entreats, he fired his Barley ●ieldes to make him come, so that here is the course, God blesseth, they sin, God strikes, they pray, and then He presently hears and helps them.  
Thus than my Text falls in sunder: First, as all Physicians coming to their Patients examine the cause of the disease; so here we have the ground and the original of all our sorrows our Transgressions and Iniquities.  
17. Fool because of their Transgressions, and because of their Iniquities, are afflicted.  
Then secondly we have the nature of the disease, the new Translation saith in general they are afflicted. The old hath it, they are plagued which by the symptoms of it may be thought to b●e the same disease under which we have thus long groaned▪  
18. Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they draw near to the gates of death.  
Vomiting I am sure is one of the certainest signs of the plague.  
Then thirdly the seeking to the Phisi●ian.  
19 Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble.  
F●u●●hly the cure intended in the same verse applied in the next. He saved them out of their distresses.  
20. He sent his Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.  
And lastly the conclusion of all, the only Fee and gratification which our Physician expects for the cure.  
21. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.  
These are the parts, The cause, The disease, The seeking to the Physician, the Cure, and the discharge, or satisfaction.  
As the Prodigal 
u Luc. 15. 18.  when he returned to his Father's house freely confessed he had sinned against Heaven and against him, and was no more worthy to be called his son, and so reduced all his delinquencyes to these two heads, God, and Man; So are all our sins we can be guilty of, included in these two, our Transgressions and our Iniquities; our Transgressions, as all interpreters do agree, smiting against the first Table, and our Iniquities violating the second; our sins of knowledge, our sins of ignorance, our sins of weakness, our sins of wilfulness, our secret, our open sins, of our thoughts, of our mouths, of our hands, are all here comprised, whatsoever the devil can suggest, or to which our hearts can consent, or our hands act are all here understood.  
Should I take upon me to number the Transgressions of our judah, and reckon up the particular Iniquities of our Israel, I might as easily call all the ●●arres by their names, and give a true and exact account of the sand upon the Seashore; not only the ends of the world as 
* 1 Cor. 10. 11.  Saint Paul saith, but the ends of all goodness are met upon this last and worst age of ours.  
The sins which in former ages were but in their Infancy, are now in ours, grown to their full height and strength, those which whilom were but in the Egg, are now come to be fiery flying Serpents; All these we have and more of our own, more horrid; Every new day almost brings in a new way of offending; Were Solomon now alive, he would recant, in that 
x Eccles. 1. 9  he said, He saw no new thing under the Sun, Et dictum, & factum quod non prius, we offend both in word and works in such kinds, such fashions, as former ages were never guilty of the knowledge of, and 
Non habet ulterius quod nostris moribus addat.  
Posteritas—  Posterity will never be able to parallel our exorbitancies; As in the time of the Plague we wondered not so much at those that died, as at those that escaped: so in this general Infection, they deserve no admiration that offend, but they that are found innocent, ut Pueri junonis au●m, are wondered at as a Bird of divers colours.  
Should every Leper in this kind be enforced as those other Lepers in the old 
y Num. 5. 2.  Law were, to go out of our Cities, and rend their clothes, and cry I am unclean, men would swarm in our fields like those Grasshoppers in Egypt, our Towns and houses should only be places for 
z Isa. 13. 21.  Zim and Limb, Owls and Ostriches to inhabit in; our streets should be left so desolate, that grass might there grow, and a 
* Ibid. ver. 1●  man should be more precious than the purest gold of Ophir.  

a 2 Sam. 24.  Not a man amongst us but may cry as David did Peccavi, nay Stul●è seci, we have sinned and done very foolishly; Stock and branch, Cedar and shrub, Prince and Priest and People, all of us are digged out of one and the same pit of Adam's disobedience, and hewn out of that rock of Infidelity. 
b Ez●k. 16. 3.  The father of us all was an Ammorite, and our mother an Hittite; in sin have they begotten us, and in Iniquity have they produced us. and we ourselves suck not the air faster, nor Behemoth drinks down jordane with more greediness than we 
c Isa. 5. 18.  hale on sin with cart-ropes, and pull it unto us even by violence: The 
d Isa. 1. 5.  whole head of mankind is sick, and the whole heart faint of this malady. There is none that doth good, no not one, 
e Ps●l. 14. 1.  saith David; there is none that doth not evil, say I, and very evil, no not one. Solomon 
f 1 King 8. 46  at the Dedication of the Temple concluded us all under sin; Omnes aliquid, Nemo nullum. All of us offend in some things, and some of us offend in all things; 
g Pro●. 24. 16.  The most righteous in all the cluster of mankind falls in his happiest day seven tim●s. He hath Brevia, leviaque peccata, quam●is pauca, quamuis parua, non tamen nulla, so that omnes odit, qui malos odit, His sword must needs be against every man that fights against wicked men. For our skin cleaves not faster to our flesh, nor our flesh to our bones, than Transgressions and Iniquities to the hearts and hands of us all.  
But to reduce my In●ectiue into some method, as Caesar comprised his Victories in three words, Veni, vidi, vici. So will I reduce all our extravagancies to three other, Corda, ora, opa; our hearts, our tongues, our▪ hands, are the three weapons with which we fight against our God, our neighbour, and ourselves, with our hearts we contemn, with our tongues we defy, with our hands we work against the God of Heaven. Or if you please, because my Text hath but two words, Transgressions and Iniquities; I will confine myself also to two particulars, our Transgressions against the first, and our Iniquities against the second Table.  
The former Table briefly contains in it four several Precepts, the first whereof commands internal piety, that in our hearts we have one, and but one God alone; The second external worship of that one God, and forbids us to bow our knees, or prostrate ourselves to any graven or carved Image, or likeness of any creature, but only to himself: and because ex abundantia cordis os loquitur 
h Luc. 6. 45.  as our Saviour saith, as we conceive in our hearts, our tongues will express, therefore the 3. Commandment order that, which is the principal member we have, either to honour or dishonour our Maker; in it is both life and death 
i Prou. 18. 21.  saith Solomon; that commands us to exercise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in blessing and praising his holy Name, not in swearing, cursing, and blaspheming, but to speak reverently as befits the servants of so great a Majesty. And as at all times we ought to be busied in the celebration of his praises, so especially on that day which he hath set apart for his divine worship, in the Tabernacle and great congregation; for which the fourth Commandment takes order, which sets one day apart wherein we should meet and pray to him for things wanting, and praise him for benefits received at his hands.  
Give me a man that hath not transgressed against these four words, and I will say and pronounce, that he needs no Saviour, nay himself shall become a kind of a Saviour of his fellow-brethrens. I may not be long in particulars, I shall but only touch them levi digito, as 
k Num. 6. 13.  the 12. Searchers of Canaan brought some of the fruit of the land to their brethren, for a taste, so must I only trouble you with a few, and in brief of our rebellions in this kind, yet so as ex unguê Leonem, ye may guess at the Lion by his claws, we shall see that, what the most are by act, all of us are by nature.  
To tax us with the common Idolatry of bowing ourselves as 
l Exod. 32.  the jews to their golden Calf, to any carved or graven Image, it shall now be altogether unnecessary, sith the glorious shine of the Gospel hath quite dispeld all those mists of ignorance and superstition; those Idolatrous Micha's that are, dare not, (thrice blessed be that power by which they dare not) show themselves abroad, but like Owls and Bats in obscurity, or Beast's in their dens, they bury themselves in their secret and unknown Houses, and there more blinded, than the 
l ● King. 11.  Syrians were when they were led into Sa●aria, fall to their abominations; But such order is happily taken, by direction from his sacred Majesty to his judges and principal Officers of state, that these Cacus-dennes shall be more narrowly searched into, and these Wooden priest's, and wooden Saints, together with their wooden Gods, shall be excluded our Israel, and sent to eat their bread in those places where first they sucked their contagious Poison, or living here, they shall be served as the 
m josh. 9  Gibeonites were, so kept under and suppressed, as they shall never endanger our State and Commonwealth. When the head hath thus well ordered and commanded, may those hands forget their cunning that shall either be careless, or negligent in the execution. Cursed may he be, and may the curse cleave to his seed, that shall do this work of his Lord and Master perfunctorily with a double heart, or a double eye, carrying fire in one hand, the authority and command of the King, and water in the other; his own timorous or ●upine connivance.  
But there is another Idolatry more common, no less dangerous than that other, if the 
n Col. 3. 5.  Apostle deceive us not, Covetousness is Idolatry, and there are whose backs and 
o Phil. 3. 19  Belly is their God. Mammon is the God of the Covetous, and Belial of the Voluptuous; these are thy Gods o England, to which the greatest part of the Inhabitants are votaries and Idolaters; in these respects we may complain as the Prophet did of judah and jerusalem, 
p jer. 11. 18.  According to the number of thy Cities O judah have they set up Altars, and according to the number of thy streets O jerusalem have they erected Images, so according to the number of men are their Idolatries. The Heathen were justly taxed for burdening the poor shoulders of Atlas with so many Deities, for every several purpose they had one, for Peace, for War, for Corn, for Wine, household-gods, and Country-Gods, and Citie-Gods, and field-Gods; ●ay, Rome was so base in it, as to erect a godhead for their draught-houses, Cloacina was the Goddess for that purpose. Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum, Wherein are we inferior, and in what are they better that deirie their throats or bellies? that ob unius horaehilarem insaniam, as Drunkenness is called, divest themselves of all hope of eternal happiness: Whose Temple is the Tavern, and the Drawers their Priests, the Flagons of Wine their sacrifice, which they pour down their Throats, as the Heathen did to their god Bacchus, and so give a drinke-offering to the Devil.  
That Epicure that wished his neck as long as a Cranes, that he might have the longer pleasure of his meats and drinks, compared to many a man in our times might be thought temperate, and 
q Luc. 16. 19  Di●es his dainty fare; or Apitius diet would be thought penurious.  
The Devil's walk is undertaken, 
r job 1.  Seas and Lands are compassed for the satisfying our appetites in this kind; and as 
s ● Sa●. 24. 17.  David called the water of Bethlehem fetched with the hazard of the lives of his men, the blood of those men, so the blood of many men is daily drunk, and drunk in excess, that blood of the Grape fetched from far always with the hazard, and many times with the loss of many a man's life. Nor doth the variety so much offend, as the abominable superfluity in the abuse of them, making them indeed the liquors of blood, beginning them to the healths of ourrfriends, but often ending like Tragedies in one another's Massacre.  
As Seneca complained in his times, vidi ebrioserum sitim & v●mentium famem, have we as much reason to complain in ours, there being objected daily to our eyes, as was to the blind man's in the 
t Mark. 8. 24.  Gospel at the first recovery of his sight, Men walking like trees, shaking like the tops of them in a wind, reeling like a vessel in a tempest at Sea, cutting indentures with their inconstant feet without sense or shame, or controlment.  
I have read that Cleopatra beat a jewel valued at 50000. pound to powder, and drunk it off at one draught to the Health of Mark Anthony, such sums few of our Drunkards are guilty of, but as Christ said in the 
u M●●k. 16. 43.  Gospel, that the Widow in offering but two mites, offered more than the rich Pharisees did, because she offered all she had, so in this respect we have among us, that drink more than that vain woman did, venturing their whole estates through the straits of their throat, and have lost it all in the bottom thereof their Bellies, themselves having been after such shipwreck forced with Belisarius in Rome to beg a farthing, and glad, with the 
* Luc. 15.  Prodigal, of Husks and Acorns for want of other food.  
And for our Tables, how are they surcharged with the weight of dishes upon them; One fowl is fed 100 times, that it may feed us but once, and 
x Rom. 5. 22.  all the creatures groan under that burden, Ha●d necessitatem deprecantes sed iniuriam, They willingly like those 
y Num. 11.  quails in the Wilderness, offering themselves to our slaughter for our necessity, only desiring the excessive abuse of them to be forborn. I know there must be Feasts for the honour of Kingdoms, of States, of Magistracy, public persons must have such public meetings as their worth and place requires, but for 
z 1 Sam. 25. a Luc. 16. 19  Nabal to feast like a King; for homo quidam as Dives was called, a certain rich man, to far daintily quotidie, he is the Belly-God, and this is his Idolatry; whose Kitchen is his Temple, whose Priest is the Cook, whose Table is the Altar, and whose meat his Sacrifice which he daily offers up to that god, as the Babylonians sometime did to their Idol Bel.  
So weighty is the Idolatry of the back, carrying thereon whole Farms and Manor-houses that Clemens Alexandrinus said, it was a a marvel they were not killed, cum tantum onus baiulent, Augustus the Emperor termed this vanity vexillum superbiae, nidumque luxuriae, they are tokens of a naked and a wanton mind, which because their souls want that inward clothing of grace and good works must thus like Sepulchers paint and beautify their bodies for want of better ornaments; 
* 1 Tim. 2. 10  they are fruitless twigs that aspire aloft when the fertile bows humbly descend to the earth. They who thus vainly set out their bodies as it were to sale, merely discover the poverty of their spirits.  
It is a pretty picture that points out an Englishman naked, with a Tailor standing by with a pair of Shears in his hand, ready to shape him into any dress, sometimes he is French alone, than Spanish, then Dutch, than Italian, then altogether like them all, and in all so unlike himself, that when the true God that made him comes to see him, he must needs say Non novi, depart from me, you have so disguised and misshapen yourselves, as I do not know you.  
Their faithful Tailors are the Priests to these Idolaters, and their Bills their Bibles, which sometime for want of discharging they keep by them, but when they are paid, they profanely cut them in pieces, but yet so happy are their Priests, that their tenths grow to a greater heap in the close, than all their Patrons 9 parts beside.  
But there may be some reasons for these Idolatryes, the pleasing of our senses, and the satisfaction of our flesh, but the other that we should 
a job 31. 24.  say to a wedge of gold thou art my hope, or to silver, thou are my confidence, that we should make ourselves servants to that which every beast treads under his feet, this, as it hath less show of reason in it, so is it far more hateful; an abomination which the Indians themselves abhorred in Christians, when holding up a piece of gold, they cried Eh De●s C●ristianorum. I cannot but think how soon a covetous man would be down on his face, and▪ up with his hands to the devil's worship, should he but say to them, I will not say as the Devil did to Christ, 
b Mat. 4. 9  Omnia hac dabo, but the least Molehill almost that it contains, which is not more base in itself, then uncertain for the continuance▪ The holy Altars of God shall be sacrilegiously robbed, and his Sacred Revenues purloined to fill full their Coffers, the Temples of their Mammon. And so thrifty are these Beadsmen, as they will not be at the charge of a Priest, themselves will do that office, or at least they do as Micah, judg. 17. Consecrate one of their Sons, who looking to their Temples and golden Gods, sometime play false with them, as Micah with his Mother, and they with others; what they get with the sweat of their brow, and the sorrow of their heart, their sons like those of 
c 1 Sam. 2.  Eli, spend as merrily. The father grinds the faces, and grieves the heart of the poor, the son glads the heart, and decks the body of an Harlot. What Agrippina said of Nero her son, Interim at modò imperet, so the Father he will kill, burn, destroy, so he may but get 
d 1 Tim. 5. 6.  gain, which is his godliness, and the Son kills, burns, destroys, to satisfy his mistress, which is his Saint, and the only matter of his Religion.  
Thus we violate the two first Commandments, now for the third and fourth, let our horrid oaths, tearing God in pieces with blasphemy, with 
c john 20. 27.  Thomas, putting our fingers into the wounds of our Saviour, making new blood thence to issue afresh, witness: Words come not faster than oaths, and those newly coined, old ones are scorned as obsolete, and the forge of our brains is still on work for new ones, such as will make the ears of every honest Christian man to tingle and shake, if it were possible, the foundations of Heaven and Earth.  
So likewise our profane violation of the Sabaoth; I will not strictly urge a ceremonial abstinence from all moderate and lawful recreations at seasonable hours, but I only could wish this day were as happy in its kind as the other six are in theirs, then are the manuary Trades exercised, every man is busy in his vocation, buying or selling, or the like, few or none are idle, only this day wherein our humane Laws ●orbid works, and the Divine laws command sanctity, men take more liberty to do evil, being longer and with far greater content in the Tavern, and sometime in worse houses than the Temple of God.  
Thus we multiply our Transgressions as the hairs of our heads, and there is no end of our Rebellions the evening of our carelessness, and the morning of our presumption makes the first and second and third, and all the days of our lives.  
And if we thus deal with our God, how do we use our neighbour? if the first Table be thus profaned, how is the second violated? if we swallow down these Camels, surely what follows are but G●●ts, and while we with such facility pass over these Mountains, Molehills will never keep us in our bounds, and so I come to consider our Iniquities against the second Table.  
I will but run them over. 1. We scornfully cast the cords of superiority from us, and break the b●nds of all subjection in sunder, our Fathers that begat us, our Mothers that bore us, our earthly gods are neglected and forsaken, should they but command aught contrary to our humours;  
2. Nay, is life spared when anger and fury is provoked? Caligula among the Romans was called Lutum sanguine maceratum, are there not many among us that have made Blood touch blood? a wry look, a misplaced word, a mistake sometimes hath spilt the blood of him for whom Christ died; Man was made at first to be as 
f Exod. 4. 16.  Moses to Aaron, a God, a friend, a helper, but now 
g Isa. 1.  our silver is become dross; the beasts de●uour not one the other more fiercely than one man doth another.  
3. So for the third, How are our bodies that should be vessels of honour, 
h 1 Cor. 6. 19  Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in, given over to all uncleanness, men 
i jer. 5. ●.  neighing with the horse after his female, and thinking no 
k Prou. 9 17.  waters so pleasant, nor any bread so sweet, as what in that sort is purloined.  
4. Those Pronouns Meum and Tuum are razed out of our Grammars, many violently stealing, but more fraudulently cozening their Neighbours of their estates; 
* Prou. 20. 14.  It is naught, saith the buyer, and coming to sell it, he as much commends it, and in both equally deceitful.  
5. How greedily do our ears suck in false Reports of our brethren, and how are our mouths with child till again they be delivered of them to the detraction of their reputes; The Devil's name comes from such practice Diabolus is Divulgator, a spreader abroad of evil reports, so that they that report them, have the Devil in their tongues, and they that receive and believe them, the Devil in their ears, both in their hearts. Nay, are there not found among us 
I 1 King. 21.  Sons of Belial, such as jesabel procured to swear against Naboth, who for a small salary will swear down Innocence itself, and condemn it? The Temple-walkes in the Termtime are seldom unfurnished of such necessary mischiefs.  
6. And whence come all these? what is the ground of all these Iniquities, but our own concupiscence, the sin against the last Commandment, which as St. john 
m 1 joh. 2. 24.  divides it, is either carnis or occulorum, with 
n josh. 7. 21.  Achan we see a Babilonish garment, and a wedge of gold, and so we desire to be fine, or rich, or to enjoy such a beauty, or to be revenged in such a kind, for such an injury, and lo all these actual Iniquities follow.  
These are in gross our gross Transgressions and Iniquities, against which being to declaim, I could wish I had Stentors voice, and more sand to run out, but there are other things which call for my labour and your attention: But yet ere I leave this verse, with the practice of which sins we so much please ourselves, give me leave to do as the Finers of gold and silver, who non solùm aurimassas, verum & bracteolas parvus tollunt, not only make use of the Wedge itself, but even of the smallest rays or foils which their mettle casteth, so here give me leave to note out the first word of the verse, the censure which the Wisdom of God gives upon men, when they are in their greatest Ruff, in the top of their Pride, as Nabuchadnezzar in his Galleries, and say with 
o Exod. 5. 2.  Pharaoh, who is the Lord that I should obey him, or with 
p ● King. 19  Rabsaketh to Hesekiah, he shall not be able to deliver thee out of my hands, I say though they like the Dromedary weary themselves in the race of their abominations and yet triumph, thinking that Wisdom shall only live and die with them: Yet see what a black coal they are marked with by the finger of the Spirit, the honourablest style they can have, is but Fools, that's the best and most charitable construction can be given of all their actions, and the fairest title they can deserve. One builds and thinks to get him a name that way, another lads himself with thick Clay to use the phrase 
q Hab. 2. 6.  of the Prophet, and hopes that way to get him a name, another ventures his life to get him a name after his death, and there are Catilanary dispositions, who by mischief think to procure a name, as those Inventors of the Powder-treason, but see here what name they get, this is the denomination which they have in their lives, and shall without repentance be written on their Tombs, Fool and unwise to heart, and without understanding shall each of them be called, and so recorded to Posterity. As 
r 1 Sam. 25.  Abigal spoke of her Husband, Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, so it is with us all by nature, we are all bound up in a bundle of folly together, were we as wise as Achitophel 
s 2 Sam. 16. 23.  whose counsel was thought as the Oracles of God, or as 
* 1 Kings 4. 33.  Solomon who could dispute of every thing, from the Cedar to the shrub, or as 
z Gen. 2. 10.  Adam, who had the wisdom to impose names according to the several natures of every creature, yet is all 
t 1 Cor. 1. 20.  the wisdom in the world folly with God, who 
u Psal. 2.  sits in Heaven and sees the actions of men, and laughs them to scorn, and will at last openly discover their nakedness to themselves, that they themselves shall be enforced to acknowledge their folly, and be ashamed of it.  
Though the sword of God's vengeance long rests in the scabbard of ●his patience, as it did to these men here in my Text, yet at last it will be drawn forth, The Heathen shall know themselves to be but men, and these men to be but Fools, the day of their pleasure is now past, and the night of their Tribulation comes, they were well and in health and merry, but see now they are afflicted, nay, Tarditatem supplitij gravitate compensat, for see the manner of it; Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they draw near to the gates of death, and so the second part comes in, the Disease.  
The cause of our disasters you have heard, our Transgressions and our Iniquities, hinc nostri fundi calamitas, hence is the source of all our sorrows, the original of all our afflictions.  
Had our first Parents continued in that Innocency wherein they were created the name of affliction had been a stranger unto them, they had never suffered, had never died, but they starting aside like a broken bow, and falling from that Integrity, have not only brought a death, and that a double one upon themselves and their issue Mori●nd● moriemini, but also encumbered that short life which was allotted them with a world of sorrow and vexation. Hence come that infinite number of diseases which begird and environ this body of ours, so that not one part from the sole of the foot to the top of the head may challenge any freedom and immunity, some whereof ambitiously aspire to the seat of Majesty the head, and there despitefully triumph over us, while others more humble, no less cruel, content themselves with the Injury they offer us in our more inferior members; Others there are who as if they had received that commission of his 
* 1 King. 22. 31.  to his Soldiers, fight neither against small nor great, save the King only, so these bend all their forces against the only fountain of our life, our heart, where yet more kindly cruel, they strike us with present death, while others to show the virulency of their disposition, are many years in killing us, during all which time, our whole life is but labour and sorrow, and the grave is more desired than all the treasures of the world; One he complains of his head as 
a 2 King 4. 19  the Shu●a●it●s Son, another of his belly, 
b jer. 4. 19  as the Prophet, another is ●icke in his legs, 
c 1 Kings 15. ●23.  as Asa, another of a sore, as 
d 2 Kings 20. 7.  Hezekiah, all of us have some way or other to bring us to these gates of death here spoken of.  
I am not able to call all the several Arrows of this quiver by their proper names, but surely the least, and most gentle of them is sufficient to rob us of the best of nature's jewels our life. We have all experience in this kind of as much as I can relate, we see that all the Cities and Towns of the earth, so far as the line of them is stretched, are but humanarum cladium mis●randa consepta, and though there is but 〈…〉, yet there are I●numeri exitus, but one way of coming into the world, yet there are a world of ways of going out, and if any question the cause of these our maladies, let him at his leisure but read over the 28. of D●ut. and there he shall see that the  
sin of his soul is the only cause of the suffering of the body. It was the word of the Son of Syrach, Let him that sinneth against his Maker, 
Ecelesiast. 38. 15.  fall into the hands of the Physician. And experience tells us daily, that there are some Diseases which grow upon men merely by their sin and wickedness; Our 
e Luc. 21. 34.  Saviour bids us take heed that our stomaches be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness. Plures gulâ quam gladi●, a true, though as old Proverb, the Grave hath been as much beholding to Intemperance, as any other thing whatsoever. Whence come our Agues and Fevers, and that other, which was once outlandish, but may now be called our native disease, not fit to be named, which breeds corruption in the bones, and consumes the marrow in the loins, but by excess and voluptuousness?  
For this cause 
f 2 Cor. 〈◊〉. 30  saith St. Paul, speaking before of the neglect and abuse of the Sacrament, many are weak and sick among you, and many are fallen asleep. 
g jer. 23. 10.  For vain Swearing the whole Land mourns, and the Heathen did observe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Israelites were discomfited for the offence of Achan.  
But for this disease which thus long hath troubled us, and which, if any, is particularly meant in this place, you shall observe tha● that never came, but for some great and grievous precedent sin, in the 11. of Numbers and 16. there the people were so plagued, the cause is set down, their murmuring and impatience, one time against God, a second time against Moses and Aaron, So when David lost 70000. 
2 Sam 24.  of the same disease, the Text saith, for his sin in numbering the people. This is called 
x Psal. 91. 5.  the arrow of the Lord that flies by day, and when this once comes, the Text hath it, that Wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is gone out from the Lord, as Moses said to Aaron, as if all other diseases were but whipping with Rods; light, and slight afflictions this whipping with Scorpions, the worst, the terriblest, the most severe of all other. It is not the Infection of the Air, nor distemperature of the body, nor the heap of Inhabitants, nor the Influence of the Stars which Physicians could or would ever apply this disease unto, but as the 
h Exod. 8. 19  Egyptians said of the Plague of Lice, Digitus deiest hic, and that for some great some grievous offence.  
Wherefore let us all strike ourselves with amazement upon the thigh, and say, what have we done, let us resolve a Christian alteration and reformation, otherwise though this be removed, yet a worse thing will befall us, which surely must be in the other life, for here naught worse can come, for see how it is described. Their soul abhorreth all meat, and they draw near to the gates of death. All pleasure, all delights prove hateful to them, nay, their necessary food which should preserve their being, keep life and soul together is loathsome, and then no marvel though they be near death, for can a fire continue without ●ewell, and nature be sustained without its appointed food?  
But they whom God hath delivered out of it, can better express the nature of this disease then myself, only thus much, it is in the most mortal, in all fearful and uncomfortable, when a friend is barred from a friends visit, when he shall have none to close up his dying eyes, nor to say to him leave thy fatherless children to me, when he not only suffers himself, but it any be so adventrously kind to come to see him, he may be a pestiduct and an occasion of the like misery to him.  
But we have not changed the colour of our hair, not added one inch to our statures since our wet eyes and heavy hearts were witnesses of more than what my tongue is able to relate; when naught was heard but crying and complaining in our streets, no fights but some carrying others to their graves, and not many days after, others doing the like necessary office for them. God's arm is not yet shortened, nor his strength so much weakened, but that if we still sin, he will surely smite again.  
The only way to make a perfect cure, is to humble ourselves under the hand of heaven, who hath wounded us, and who can heal us, the Soare is but skinned, not perfectly healed without that plaster be applied, this did these in my Text.  
Then they cried unto the Lord in their troubles.  

l Prou. 26. 3.  A whip for the Horse, and a Bridle for the Ass, and the Rod is for the back of a Foole. They have sinned and smarted, and now they feel it and cry for help.  
The wild Ass used to the Wilderness snuffeth up wind at her pleasure, who can turn her back? they that seek after her will not weary themselves, but they will find her in her month, jer. 2. God sees and observes at all times the untamednesse of the wicked, wearying themselves like an Ass in the by-paths of ungodliness, but he takes them in their Month, and happy are they that are so taken.  
As St. Austin of necessity, so say I of misery, Foelix qua in meliora cogit, happy misery that drives us to eternal happiness. Adversity makes them seek to that God whom their prosperity made them forget. In the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us saith God, jer. 2. 27. 
2 Chron. 33. 12.  Bind Manasses with Chains, and load him with Irons, bow down his nceke, and his back with bonds, and he will soon know himself; Pull the King of Babylon also from his Throne, 
Dan. 4.  lay his honour and insolency in the dust, banish him the company of men, turn him to eat grass with the Ox in the field, and he will at last learn to praise the King of Heaven: Let Moab settle herself upon her Lees, and not be emptied from vessel to vessel, and her scent will remain in her, jer. 48. doth the wild Ass bray when he hath grass, or the Ox low when he hath Fodder?  
job 6. give but any of the sons of men, peace, plenty, and prosperity, all things at his hearts desire, let but the Sun of happiness still shine upon him, how like Wax will he melt into all pleasure, and cast off the yoke of all obedience, but let storms and frowns seize on him, than he will say, 
m Host 6. 1. 2.  Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath spoilt us and he will heal us, he hath wounded us, and he will bind us up. I doubt not but there are many who heretofore have been wild like the untamed Heifer, that the Lord hath by this rod of chastisement reduced home, and made them his, who had they not thus suffered perierant nis● perijssent, had they not lost their lives or their healths, had lost their souls. And thrice woe to that soul that shall not make this use of this his preservation, and of God's correction. It is a fearful complaint that God hath in the second of jer. I have smitten their children and they have received no correction, that heart must needs be seared as with an hot Iron, that is not sensible of these stripes, and we cannot but judge him, delivered up to a reprobate sense, that is not mollified at these afflictions. What can prevail when neither Mercy nor judgement are available? 
n 2 Sam. ●0. 16.  They were wont to inquire of Abel, saith that mother in Israel to joab, when he besieged that City, before they destroy it, so doth God, the grand Captain of Heaven and Earth, as Tamburlaine was wont to do, first hang out his white flag to any City he environed, his proffer of peace and mercy if they will yield, than the red Flag of threatenings, yet so as if yet they would submit, there was hope, but lastly the black Flag was displayed, and then no way but death and destruction if he prevailed; so doth God first offer mercy, which if abused, than he threatens, and long it is before he strikes, he was 120. years before he smote the old world, if those prevail not, than he strikes, but so gently as it shall but be a taste as it were of what he can do, which if that also be in vain, Immedicabile vulnus ense recidendum, that man is incurable, and must needs be cut off. We have had so long, so large, so flourishing a time of peace, as our G●shen hath been as it were the envy of all the Nations of the world beside, this little fleece of ours hath been dry, when all the earth round about us hath been overwhelmed with the Deluge and Inundation of War; Germany groaning under persecution, France encumbered with her fatal infelicity, Civil wars, Italy burdened with the tyranny of Antichrist, Spain ambitiously desiring to fathom all, like to keep nothing▪ The Hollanders continually at war, only we, by the blessing of our God, and the happy means of our late Sovereign of ever blessed memory have sit under our Vines and Figtrees; But yet this peace having bred corruption, we have had light and small punishments many times inflicted, by Water, by Fire, and by the Pestilence, and all but to reclaim us, which if we do not seriously lay to heart, the sable flag will be displayed: Our Candle will be extinguish, a night will come, an eternal night of destruction both of body and soul. But such was our happiness, as in the time of our general sufferings, we had a general sorrow commanded, a Fast was proclaimed by the King and his Nobles 
o jon. 3.  as it was at Niniveh, and we all wept and mourned, and prayed, and cried unto the Lord, and, I hope and dare say by the happy effect, it was serious and in earnest, with these in my Text we cried, and we are delivered. 
p 1 Sam. 2. 9  Annah in a part of her song tells us, that it is the wont of the wicked in the time of Affliction, to lay their hands upon their mouths, and hearts too, they fret with indignation, and repine to themselves, letting neither voice nor groan come forth, nor any token of submission to him that hath cast them down. But saith St. Gregory, Tolerare & odisse non tam virtus mansuetudinis, quam velamentum furoris, which because they dare not utter, Murmura tunc secum & ●abiosa silentia rodunt, they bite the lip with an impatient silence, which comes from no other but from the Devil himself, as Tertullian witnesseth, Impatientiae natales inipso diabol● deprehendo, but here as there was outward smart and inward sorrow, so there was a vocal expression of it, no way giving any discontent, as 
q 2 Kings 6. 13.  that King said, this evil cometh of the Lord, why should I wait any more upon him? but only a vociseration and hearty invocation for mercy.  
In the great Famine of Samaria, a woman came and cried unto the King, Help 
r Ibid 〈◊〉. 27.  my Lord o King, the King wisely and sound replied, How should I help with the Barn, or with the Winepress, seeing the Lord denies us, In vain shall we go to Gilead for Balm, to the Apothecaries for Ointment, to Physicians for receipts, to any for help, unless withal we cry unto the Lord, it is not the plaster of Figs, nor bathing in jordane, nor washing in the Pool of Bethesda, that will here cure, but only seeking to the Lord, and yet the other are not to be neglected: 
s 1 King. 15.  Asa was not condemned for seeking to Physicians, but because he neglected the lord 
t Eccle. 38. 1.  Physicians are honourable, and the act of the Apothecary is to be made use of. Wherefore hath God infused virtue into Plants and Metals, but to be used? 
u 2 King. 20.  Did not he command Hesekiah's Plaster? 
* 2 King. 5.  And was not Naman willed to wash? they are only here condemned, that altogether neglect the Lord, and only rely upon these who can do nothing without him, Nec Deus oratur nisi dignus vindice nodus, Inciderit, 
x 1 Cor. 3. 6.  Paul may Plant, and Apollo's may in their kind water, Physicians may prescribe, and Apothecaries may apply, but our health only comes from above.  
Virtus est in herbis plus gemmis, maxima verbis, there may, 
Chap. 38. 9  and there is power and efficacy in Herbs, and Metals, but Prayer is the chief, and principal efficient. Pray unto the Lord in thy sickness saith the Son of Syrach, and he will make thee whole, And it is 
a jam. 5. 15.  St. james his counsel, if any be sick, let him send for the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, and so the prayer of the faithful shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. A real experience whereof these men had, for no sooner did they cry unto the Lord but he delivereth them out of their distress. He sent his Word, etc.  
I remember a certain speech by Bias used in jest in that earnest, when certain Mariners were in distress, and were every one like those in jonas crying upon his God, sile●e ne audiant dij vos hac preterire, 
b 1 King. 20. 31.  The Kings of Israel, say the servants of Benhadad are merciful Kings. I am sure the God of Israel is a merciful God, who will hear the unfeigned cry of the most wicked in their afflictions.  
As the cold of Snow in the time of Harvest, so is a faithful messenger to him that sends him, for he refresheth the soul of his Master, saith Solomon, Prou. 25. 13. Here is a faithful Mercury, a winged Messenger, that in so short a space hath climbed up into the highest Heaven, and gotten Audience. What manacles to the hands of God's justice are the cries of poor afflicted penitent men, that will not suffer him to proceed in his intended vengeance! Nay, rather than they shall fail, God himself shall seem to be mutable, who though he threateneth Niniveh without any hope of escape, yet upon those prayers is entreated to spare them. Or rather how gracious is our God, and willing to be thus entreated, who upon the first call answers and performs, he in the 
c Luc. 11. 17.  Gospel when his friend did but knock at an unseasonable time, answered, the doors were locked, the children were in bed, & so did not satisfy his desire, but for a loaf of bread; But no such thing here, no time in all our life is unseasonable; the first, the second, the third 〈◊〉 he hears and opens. Bis qui citò, the bene●●● is double, that is speedily performed. 
d 1 Kings 18. 28.  The Priests of Baal prayed from morning till noon, and could get no answer, but the first word of Elias fetched fire. And indeed how should such suppliants praying to such deities be heard, for what taste is there in the white of an Egg, or how can Baal, or any other living or dead creature hear or help, when they cannot help themselves? It is only the infinite Maker and creator of the ear that can hear all men, at all places, at all times altogether. No Saint, no Angel, no forged or feigned godhead can do that, but only the God of all power and might, the mighty God of Heaven and Earth. una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit, He that bruised can again bind up, he that made the wound can, and only did cure it, now the means which he used was his Word. He sent his Word and healed them, etc.  
This is that Delphian Sword, or universal Instrument which he used in framing the World with all that therein is; He said, let there be Light, and there was light; Let there be Firmament, let the Waters be gathered into one place, and let the dry Land appear, and all was fulfilled; and He still upholdeth all things by the Word of his power, Heb. 1. What is his Word now but the real and effectual performance of what he intends, he but speaks, and all things in Heaven and Earth, and the great Deeps presently are obedient. I see now as man 
e Mat. 4.  lives not by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, so he is not cured by Physic alone, but by the only blessing of the omnipotent Word of God. No means can prevail without that, and that with, without, beside, yea, against all means can easily be prevalent. No God can deliver as 
f Dan. 3. 19  the God of the three Children can, as the King confessed, whose Dicere is his Facere. His only Word is able to bring mighty things to pass. Whatsoever seem impossibilities to man, are easily brought to pass by him that can do all things. The Sea will be calm, Diseases vanish, all the Creatures are morigerous, yea Devils themselves are obedient to this Word, only Man dares to rebel against it, but he that will not bend at the Word of his command, shall be broken at the Word of his Power.  
They that allegorise this part of Scripture, as Hugo Cardinalis, and Lorinus, make this Disease a farther proceeding in the ways of impiety, a sitting down in the chair of ungodliness, a delivering up from one sin to another, and are at last grown to that height, that they care no more for their soul, then if they had none, the Word and Sacraments, the only food of their souls they neglect and despise, it is as Wormwood to their taste, or smoke to their eyes, they so wholly devote themselves to sensuality, as it might seem to grieve them, non quadrupedes esse natos, that they might freely take their pleasure and delight, yet at last God hath a hook to draw these in, a means to enlighten and preserve them. Though they be dead in sins and trespasses, and with Lazarus buried in the grave, yet if the Lord do but say, Exi foras come forth of that Mare mortuum, wherein like jonas in the belly of the Whale, or rather of Hell, as himself called it, they are entombed, their Fetters fall presently from them, as they did from Peter in the Prison, they come to acknowledge themselves Fools, wicked and rebellious, to say with 
g Exod. 10. 16  Pharaoh, I have sinned against the Lord. This is wrought by the power of his Word, that cibus inconsumptibilis as Cyprian called it, that immortal Word which 
h joh 1.  St, john saith, was in the beginning, the only begotten Son of God our blessed Saviour. He like the 
i Num. 21. 9  Brazen Serpent cures all foule-diseased, that look up to him.  
I urge not this Interpretation to any, I know one sin is oftentimes the punishment of another; as when Israel had 
k 2 Sam. 24.  provoked God, he stirred up David to number the people, and it is the fearfullest judgement that can be, to heap more coals upon the head of the delinquent by giving them over to their own hearts lust I know also, that there is a death of the soul as of the body, Etiam vivens mortua est, saith 
l 1 Tim. 5. 6.  St. Paul of a woman living in pleasure, there is a death spiritual as temporal, out of which God is able to deliver. Nay, his Word, that is the second Person in Trinity came for that end into the world, was made flesh and took our nature upon him, not for the righteous but 
m Mat. 9 14.  to call sinners to repentance, yea, though they were twice dead, as he was called twice a Murderer, Semel consilio iterum spectaculo. Once in the act, and a second time in the glorying in it. Yet there is a blessing in this dead Elm, though he be consumed as a Sheep in the mouth of a Lion to a leg or an ear, or as a block in the fire to a stump, yet the least breath of his mouth is able to revive him. But the context me thinks gives no great warrant for this exposition, having both before and after spoken of temporal dangers and deliverances from them. I see no reason why it should be thought, that herein only he speaks of spiritual danger and a spiritual deliverance.  
I have hitherto showed you this disease, with the cause and the effect of it, The Physician also I have brought you acquainted with, together with his Physic, that if ever there be the like need again, we may with boldness approach the same throne of grace, and obtain the like mercy, Probatum est may be subscribed to this Recipe▪ so many sighs mingled with tears, and a quantity of faith enfused, taken in poculo charitatis, and the blessing of our Doctor is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all diseases, a ●ure Antidote against all infection, all amulets and preservatives compared to this, are mere toys of Mountebanks. This never fails.  
Many here in this place have experimentally tasted of the efficacy of this Medicine, All of us have been Testes occulati, eye-witnesses of it, some have smarted, and all I hope have been admonished. The like cause breeds again the like disease, Relapses are most dangerous, We have sinned, with David, we with David have smarted, with him we have sorrowed, and with him we have been delivered. 
n Psal. 4●. ●.  Abyssus abyssum invocat saith he, the depth of our misery I hope, caused the depth of our sorrow, and I hope it was according to the occasion, hearty and unfeigned; if like 
o 1 Kings 21.  ahab's, it were but feigned and temporary, and like the careless Boy we forget the rod with the smart, and so return to the vomit; Woe, woe to that man, the latter end of that man will be worse than the beginning. None are now delivered, but either to their greater happiness, or greater misery. They who are now spared, are either spared to redeem the time that formerly they have carelessly lost, or till their sins are more ripe for a severer judgement. The Israelites were kept out of the Land of Canaan so long, till the sins of those Inhabitants were fulfilled.  

p Luc. 13. 3.  Our Saviour told the jews, that they were not greater sinners upon whom the Tower of Siloa fell then those that escaped, but unless they repented, they should all likewise perish. De mortuis nil nisi bonum, saith the Canon; Our Predecessors sins have not been more great against God, but God's mercy hath been more towards us; Many green and fruitful Trees have been cut up, when levy and barren Trees are let alone; We have seen Death like an unskilful Archer shooting at Rovers, hath hit our superiors above us, our inferiors beneath us, our friends on our right hand, our foes on our left. The Cedars have been plucked up, and the shrubs have continued. Nay, to make the remembrance this fatal year for ever wear a sable livery, he of whom we may say as the Israelites did of David, 
z 2 Sam. 18.  he is worth 10000 of us, our blessed Peacemaker under whose branches we have 22. years sat shadowed from the scorching heat of War, which hath parched and withered most of our neighbour's Nations. Yet now, though not of this, yet of another as violent a disease hath been taken away, and but that reliquisset nobis semen, he hath left us of his seed, the flourishing estate of our Kingdom might have died with him. We have also been bereft within the space of two years of many of the principal Peers, and Pillars of the State, two Dukes, one marquis, five or six Earls, some Barons, and most of them Privy Counselors, all which were, as if our arms had been cut from our bodies, or our eyes plucked out of our heads. And then so many thousands of inferior subjects, as the memory of man cannot equalise it. And lo, all we that are alive this day, are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler. But let me tell you, we may be delivered in six troubles, and the seaventh may dispatch us, we may escape the pit, and be taken in the snare, as jer. 48. 44. We may flee from a Lion, and a Bear shall overtake us, or lean our hand upon a Wall, and a Serpent shall bite us, Amos 5. 19 Him that escapeth the Sword of Hasael shall jehu slay, and him that escapes the Sword of jehu, shall Elisha slay, 1. Reg. 19 Though our Master hath thus long deferred his coming to us, yet at last the time of our Audit will come, we must all Reddere rationem, we must stand at the bar, and answer to what shall be objected. 
q Luc. 12. 18.  To whom much is given, of him much shall be required. The longer life afforded, we must either perform more duty, or expect more pain; our Lord will take an account of our Talents be they more or less, and in what kind soever. Wherefore seeing our sins are the cause of God's anger and our sufferings, and having had but the laps of our garments in comparison 
r 1 Kings 2●.  cut off, as David did to Saul, to show what he might have done. As we have sorrowed outwardly, so let us show the fruits of it. It is not the wearing o● customary blacks, the abstaining from one meal in the week, or the bowing of the head like a bulrush, that God respects, it is the abstaining from our Transgressions and Iniquities that he regards, Oportet aliquid esse intus as he said of a dead body to make it stand; So there must be a true sorrow attended with visible works, which argue sound repentance. It is true, we did fast and pray, and mourn, and cry, while the rod was upon us, and did not God regard us? he beyond expectation spoke to the Destroying Angel to desist. Now therefore as the effect of judgement was compunction, and sorrow, and we did express that heartily and really in the liberal and freely relieving the necessity of our brethren, for which double honour shall ever attend this honourable City, which may be a pattern and example to all the Kingdom of liberal and Charitable contribution: So now after mercy received, let us express the thankfulness of our hearts, in vocal thanksgiving, and actual obedience to his behests. And so I come to the last part of all The Fee which the Preserver of men as job called him, our God respects from us. Oh that men, etc.  
Wherein we have qui, quem, quid, quarè, the parties, Who, Men, the duty what, Praise, the object whom, The Lord; the reason why, for his goodness and wonderful works, endeared unto us by the mention of the parties to whom this goodness, these wonderful works were extended, The Children of Men. I shall rack your patience but a very little while to run over these, and I shall conclude.  
1. The first Who, Men. They who erewhile when they thought themselves wise were called Fools, are now, being humbled at the sight of their sin, and sense of their sorrow called Men. They have lost nothing by losing all they had, they have gained now their true denomination. The nature of Man in his fi●st Creation, before that lump was soured with the levin of sin, was full of glory and grace, and as God said to David, I made thee King over Israel, and if that had been too 
a 2 Sam. 12.  little for thee, I would have done more; So Man was made King, and put in Lordlike dominion over all the earth, not of some cantons or corners, but over it all; Nay, the air and the Sea also were put under his dominion, with all the creatures in them all, all things were created for us 
b 2 Phisi●.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristo: we are in a manner the end of all things. And if this be too little, God hath yet done more for us, for our sakes were the Heavens created, and for our sakes were the Heavens bowed, and propter hominem Deus homo factus est, God was made Man to pleasure Man. The wise men in the world, who could never look so far into the nature of Man, as we can, yet evermore commended that Creature above all others; One called him a little world, the world a great man, another a mortal God, God an immortal Man, another all things, because he partakes the nature of Plants, of Beasts, and of spiritual Creatures. Phavorinus marveled at nothing in the World besides man, in man at nothing but his mind. Abdala the Sarazen being asked what he most admired in the Stage of the world, answered Man; and Augustin saith, that a man is a greater miracle than all the miracles that ever have been wrought amongst men. When Vedius Pollio a Roman at a supper provided for the Emperor Augustus, would have thrown a servant of his into a Fishpond wherein he kept his Lampreys, because he had broken a Cup of Crystal, the Emperor withheld him, & controlled him with these words, Homo cuiuscunque conditionis, etc. Aman of whatsoever conditions, yet if for no other reason, yet because a man is more worth than all the Cups and Fishponds in the world. Great reason then there is for the performance of this duty, that Man should praise and magnify his Maker, if for no other reason, yet because he hath made him Man; he hath given him a soul to govern his body, and reason to rule his soul, and a Religion to direct that reason, and he himself who is all Good, all Wise, all Religious is the Lord of that Religion, and expects that homage and only Man can perform it, fail not then. Other creatures have bodies but no souls, mouths and tongues, but not the gift of speech, only that is proper to Man, and that is the instrument wherewith we are to praise him, and so the second; the duty, Praise.  
The word in the original which signifies laudare is also Confiteri, for that is a part of the praise which God requires, we must humble ourselves at his presence, acknowledge our own unworthiness, and that all his punishments are far less than our deservings. 
c josh. 7. 19  joshua wished Achan to confess his fault, and so to give glory to God. We commend the proceeding of the Almighty when we condemn ourselves, our falling low before him, exalts him the more; and when we lay open our weakness, is his power made more illustrious. 
d 〈…〉.  We must in all things give thanks, saith St. Paul, if in our Adversity, then much more in our prosperity, if like the beast we look only downward for what we receive. Os homini sublime dedit coelumque tueri jussit, when our faces are erect, & we should only mind Heaven, if we only look to secondary causes & means for our blessings, and so neglect the God that gave them, the earth itself will spew us us out as an unworthy burden: But now it is not only the 
e Heb. 13. 15.  fruit of our lips as the author to the Hebrews calls them, which is here expected; 
f 1 Sam. 15. 22.  Obedience saith Samuel to Saul is better than sacrifice. It is in Thanksgiving, the only Christian sacrifice, as in the old Sacrifices, nunquàm in odoribus sacrificiorum delectatus est, Dominus, nisi in fide & desiderio offerentis, saith St. Augustine, the outward act never was acceptable without inward piety and devotion, Cain and Abel both sacrificed and externally both alike; but the soul of a sacrifice a faithful heart was wanting in 
g Gen. 4.  Cain's which God saw who looks as with Cresset-light into the closet of a man's heart, & so refused it, & accepted the other.  
They are men that may be deceived with words, but God is a God of spirits, as of bodies, and so will be magnified in both. Mens cuiusque est quisque, & so the meaning and inward intention of an action is the reality of it. To bless God with our lips, and blaspheme him in our ●hearts, is to honour him ex usu magis quam sensu, rather of custom than devotion. God is weary of this lip-labour, it is as if you offered a dog in sacrifice. Honorant me labijs 
h Isa. 29. 13.  saith God in the Prophet, cor autem eorum longi àme, God hath the Tongue and Mammon, or Milchrom, or Belial hath the heart, what is this but to mock God? but be not deceived God will not be mocked; he searcheth the inward parts of man, and there finds the dissimulation of the heart which cries to the tongue, make a show of piety, do something to get me credit among men. But alas Adam was not more naked when God called him after his fall, than the hypocrisy of these men shall be discovered. Praise him with our tongues, and bless him with our hearts, and serve him with our hands, this is the true praising of him; For as he made all these parts, so he will be served in them all, and he hath power of all, for he is Lord of all, which is the third; Praise the Lord. A Lord that hath power over us, as the Potter over his vessel, if it distastes him; He challengeth duty and observance of us, first by creation, then by preservation; he still defends & provides for us, then by protection he keeps us in all our ways, so that no evil shall be●ide us, but chiefly in our assured hope of glorification. Him that honours me, 
i 1 Sam. 2. 30.  saith himself: I will honour. Scipio repented that he had not a Soldier in all his Army, who if he commanded would not cast himself headlong from a steep Tower to the Sea; a powerful Lord▪ & an obedient Army, no doubt we owe as much service▪ to our Lord as Scipio's Soldiers did him, and he will as amply recompense it. When Gedeon had delivered the Israelites out of the hands of Madman, they came to him and said, Thoushalt be Lord over us for thou hast delivered us. judg. 18. 28. Whether God hath mightily delivered us, let ourselves be judges, and whether even by those deliverances he may not challenge superiority over us; Nay, these deliverances are but earnests and pledges of what he yet will do, that glory that shall be revealed to those that truly glorify him, is far beyond the shallow heart of man to conceive, glory and Immortality, and life, and joy, and pleasure at his right hand for evermore. If these certain hopes will not allure; yet let fear stir us up, the consideration of what is due to the neglect of it. What a reprehension did our Saviour give those unthankful Lepers, 
k Luc. 17. 17.  Were there not ten healed, where are the other nine? a fearful thing when the Creator shall ask where the Creature is, as God asked Adam in the Garden after his fall, Where art thou? 
l joh. 1. 18.  our Saviour saw Nathaniel under the Figtree; so no doubt he knew where those nine ingrateful men were, but by their ingratitude they were lost in themselves, and so were quite out of his protection. He will be a Lord no longer to defend and protect us, than we are servants to obey him; Not a servant here below that will endure his Master's disgrace, 
* 〈◊〉.  ais aio, negas nego, saith he in the Comedy! Their Master's word goes still for a law, and he will be more jealous of his Master's honour then his own peace, shall earthly servants be so observant of their earthly Masters from whom time may release them, or distance of place secure them, and shall we dare to neglect our obeisance against him, against whom there is no privilege? No place, nor any time can exempt us from his Dominion. 
m Mat. 25.  The unprofitable servant that gave his Master his own Talon, yet was condemned because he did not increase it, where shall they then appear that do not give him what of right belongs to him? 
n Mat. 22. 21.  When the Pharisees tempted Christ by ask him whether they should give tribute to Caesar or no, he called for a penny, and seeing Caesar's image and superscription upon it, judged it his, give saith he to Cesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are Gods; Honour, and glory and praise, is that which of due belongs to him, and that which all the host of Heaven, Angels and Saints, daily sing unto him; Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth, Heaven and Earth are full of thy glory, the glorious company of Prophets praise thee, the noble army of Martyrs praise thee, The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee. 
o Luc. 2. 14.  In the Angel's song there went gloria in Excelsis, before Pax in terris, no peace on earth, if no glory to Heaven, and yield but that Peace shall be within our Walls, & plenteousness within our dwellings. Would ye yet know a farther reason wherefore ye should praise him, my Text tells you; For his goodness▪ etc.  
Marvellous are thy works saith David, in Wisdom hast tho● made them all, the earth is full of thy goodness, so is the broad Sea also, not the least creature in the Air, or the Earth, or the Water, but if we rightly consider, it is fearfully and wonderfully made, & the least part or member of them is more than the weak and shallow reach of Man is able either duly to commend or to comprehend rightly. It is a true position in morality, nimia familiaritas parit contemptum, it is also true in Divinity, Perseverantia consuetudi●is amisit admirationem; quam multa usitata caleantur, qua considerata stupent? saith Augustine, how many things doth custom make vile, which consideration would make admirable? Did we but with David truly consider the creation of ourselves, that we are wonderfully made, and that our bones were not hidden from him, though they were form in a secret place, it would enforce us to give acclamation to the workmanship of our Maker, as that sweet singer of Israel there did, Marvellous are thy works O Lord, and that my soul knows rightwell.  
Then have the wondrous works of God their true end, when we take them for wonders, when we tremble at the sight of them, and fear that mighty Lord that hath wrought them, God doth not miracula propter miracula, but for our sakes, not caring so much himself to do them, as that we consider and bear them away. The gracious God saith David, hath made his wonderful works to be had in remembrance. O Lord how gracious art thou, thy works are very deep, an unwise man knoweth it not, and a fool doth not understand it; So that all his Goodness is extended to us, and his Marvellous works are done for us, which are the Children of men. The last part of all. O that Men, etc.  
Tantus ille, tantilli nos, this adds to our engagement; That he should so consider us, and think upon us, that never think upon him; that he should regard us that never mind him; for us that have deserved so little at his hands, nay, rather so much, so much misery, & so many plagues, being non prius nati quam damnati: that are not only strangers but enemies, and that the most despitefully conditioned that can be, vessels of wrath, and sons of perdition, that he should do all these things for us; how are we honoured, that he will vouchsafe to be honoured by us so vile, so unworthy as we are? All that we can do is a thousand times less than a drop of rain to the Ocean, he is infinite of himself, and nothing can be added to him, it is only our happiness, our welfare and advantage.  
The wonder which David here instanceth in, is the recovery of us out of sickness. We little consider how daily and hourly we stand beholding to God for our lives and healths, when we have such enemies within, the Elements whereof we are composed, heat and cold, moisture and drought, which being brethren of one house, as one called them, but withal the Fathers and Founders of us, as it were of our natures, if they but fall at variance within us, how will they rend and tear us like wild Boars, how many have been buried alive in the grave of their earthly and melancholic Imaginations? how many burnt in the flames of pestilent and hot diseases? their bowels set on fire like an Oven, their blood dried up, their inwards withered and wasted with the violence thereof? The vapours and fumes of their own vicious stomaches, like a contagious Air how many have they poisoned and choked up? and finally how many have been glutted and overcharged with water between their own skin and bones? And therefore we must conclude and cry with the Prophet; It is the wonderful mercy of God, that we are not consumed.  
When a grape-gatherer comes, will he not leave some grapes! if aught in the opening of this Scripture hath escaped me, as my ignorance & weakness dare hope for no other, it will be your charity to impute it to multitude of other private business, and brevity of time, in which as Agabus with the girdle of Paul I am confined, these few sands are too little to expatiate myself in these many and various points which offer themselves to our consideration, though not all of some, yet somewhat, I hope I have spoken of all; I would gladly conclude with some short application.  
How many are there now in this City alive, that have been summoned as Hezekiah was, to set their house in order, for they thought no other but they must die? that have seen before them, the greedy and inexorable Grave with open mouth ready to receive them; that friends and Physicians have all forsaken, giving them for dead, yet have escaped, and are recovered, and many there are also, to whom God hath given continuance of health in this general Deluge of infection, when so many thousands have fal●e round about us; To what shall we attribute this? were we not in the same Air? did we not converse with the same men? are not our bodies equally subject to the like diseases? was it not only as our Saviour saith, that the works of the Lord might be manifest? who spoke to this Infection, as sometime to the Sea, hitherto shalt thou go and no farther, Divide in one house between brother and brother, in one bed between Husband and Wife, in one Family between servant and servant; These shalt thou absolutely take, these thou shalt but touch their bodies and spare their lives, as he said to the Devil concerning job; Thus long shalt thou reign and no longer; if ever we live to forget this goodness, this wondrous work of God, (I will sooner wish we should forget to take our daily food) how justly should God forget us, when we stand in the like need of mercy again. As the Emperor had his Boy that cried every morning to him, Remember thou art but a man; so let us still have something or other to put us in mind of this great deliverance; Let every man write it upon the doors of his house, as the 
p Exod. 12.  Israelites in Egypt sprinkled their posts with blood, that if ever God should again strike, he again may spare us. I 
q Gen. 18. 19  know, saith God of Abraham, that he will tell his children what great things I have done. Let it be our talk to our children, that they that are yet unborn may know, though not by sight, yet by hearsay, what great things the Lord hath done for us. Scipio Africanus the Elder having made the City of Rome exanguem, & morituram, as himself called it, ready to give up the ghost, Lady of Africa at length being banished into a base Country-Towne, his will was, that his Tomb should have this Inscription, I●grata Patria ne ossa quidem mea habes, let not the God of Heaven complain so of us, that we should have no thought, no memory, of our great preservations, let him not be exiled our thoughts, and buried in oblivion, but let some remnant and foot-print be left, to witness to the world, that we have been delivered. Let him not have cause to complain as he sometime did, Isa. 1. Hear O Heavens and hearken O Earth, I have brought up and preserved children, and they have despised me: Can a mother forget her child saith God; no child so dear to the mother as we have been to him, he hath tendered us as the apple of his eye, and preserved us, as the Signet upon his right hand. Oh then let us observe and respect him. It is a good thing saith David, 
Psal. 92.  to praise the Lord, and to sing unto the name of the most High, to declare his loving kindness in the morning, and his truth in the night season. It is good touching the act itself, for it is better to bless then to curse, and to give thanks, then to give out a voice of grudging. It is good, because of the retribution, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give and thou shalt receive, and all that we can give to him, is our thanks (for can our goodness extend to him? saith David) and cessat de cursus gratiarum ubi non fuerit recursus, the course and descent of the graces of God ceaseth, and the spring is dried up, where there is not a recourse and tide of our thankfulness, Wherefore let us always be thankful to the Lord, for it becometh well the just to be thankful. Had I the power, I would do as David did, begin above, and call the Heavens, the Sun, and Moon, and Stars to praise the Lord for this our deliverance, then would I descend to the Air, and call all those winged Messengers of God, all Birds and feathered Fowls to bear a part with us, than would I come to the Earth, and have Mountains and all Hills, fruitful Trees and all Cedars, Beasts and cattle to join with us, than would I go down to the Deep, and there summon all those Sea-citizens of those briny Regions to come with us, and magnify his great and glorious Name. In a word, I would conclude as David doth, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. 
Psal. last.  The Lord whose goodness is without quality, whose greatness is without quantity, infinite in both; but all of us that are the sons of men, especially I would have to learn, the song of the blessed before hand, that hereafter we may be able to sing it with more perfection, 
r Reu. 5. 13.  Praise, honour, and glory be unto him that sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb▪ that Immaculate Lamb of God which once offered himself for us, and at last will assume us to himself in that place where he ●its and Reigns for ever. To the which place he bring us, that only bought us, and can save us, JESUS CHRIST the Righteous. Amen.  
FINIS.